Shelley F.

Verified review

I was very pleased with Stephen Box and his crew. They came out when scheduled, did a great job and cleaned up after themselves.
Stephen is honest, courteous, knowledgeable and professional. I would not hesitate to have him in my home for all of my repairs/construction needs.

Rennard P.

Verified review

Chris was excellent to work with. Fixed my current sprinkler system and installed a drip set on one of the regions. Quality of work and price is awesome. I highly recommend him for any irrigation jobs to be installed in your home.

Paula S.

Verified review

Would definitely use James R Loera Construction again and refer to family and friends. Very professional, punctual and did the job he committed to for the price quoted. I also appreciated how careful he was working in my home and cleaned up area before he left. Couldn’t ask for anything more. 5 Stars from me!!!!!

Nicole M.

Verified review

Houman helped us improve our home by removing a large, outdated fireplace and chimney. This was no simple job. It required hammering out 7 tons of brick and concrete that made up the fireplace/chimney.
The vacated space was then rebuilt to house a French door. An adjacent existing sliding door was also replaced with an identical French door.
Houman was always on time, and held true to his estimate. He is very detail oriented, communicative, very clean, and organized. It was not just Houman, the rest of team were equally amiable and trustworthy.
The best thing that I can say is that we will definitely employ Houman for future renovations to our home.

J. L.

Verified review

I had a previous bad experience with a plumber, and decided to find a more scrupulous person to fix the half-done job. I decided to try out thumbtack, and posted a brief description of the work. Joel was the first of 5 plumbers to reply within the hour.
Joel showed up the morning of the job with another employee and reviewed my plumbing issue in detail before going into the crawl space with his associate to double check the situation. He came back out, described the problem, offered short and long term solutions, and we agreed on which route to take.
He assigned the work to his employee, and the work was completed in a couple hours. Although he was not the cheapest of those plumbers who replied, I did feel that Joel provided a reasonable price for the work, had great communication, and his employee also had all the necessary parts for the job in his van (eliminating the need to run down to Home Depot or Lowes for parts). Joel's employee was hard-working and he also provided me with before and after photos of the work completed.
I am inclined to seek him out again for future home improvement projects (bathroom remodel, roofing).

Brian J.

Verified review

We hired Excel Construction few months ago and we just finished our entire home remodeling project. We researched, met and interviewed few other remodeling companies before we decide to hire Excel Construction and we couldn’t be happier and more satisfied with our great decision. We love Eyal and the ideas/solutions that he brought to the project. His design team was perfect for us and they always has few options for us to think of before we took the right decision. We’ve noticed very clear that everyone on the job was skilled and professional in his own trade and specialty. They did a perfect job by keeping the house as clean as they could and they were very respectful of our space. We remodeled our entire house including the kitchen, bathrooms, living room, garage, laundry room and bedrooms!!! We are super happy with the new house that we got and the complete transformation of it. Excel Construction are highly recommended and we already recommended them to few of our friends.

Paula P.

Verified review

Mike has completed many home projects for me, including wood restoration and re-finishing, household repairs, painting and plumbing issues. He's always on time, courteous and does fantastic work! I call Mike for all of my home projects!

Kristen B.

Verified review

We decided to install a hot tub in the backyard but needed a 220 connection away from the house. We tried to do some of the work ourselves by prepping an 18" trench for an electrician to come and wire. The soil was tough and the job harder than we thought. American Castles came and picked up where we left off, dug the remaining trench, connected the line, installed the box, and even recessed some of the line behind the stucco for a better visual. They didn't cut corners, showed up in a big team, and took care of everything without a problem. Price was reasonable. I would hire again.

Lisa H.

Verified review

Thank you Cabrera's Electrical. We have had so much work done on our home, yet when our private contractor retired, we did not know what to do. Cabrera's had the most professional response online. We had (2) large ceiling fans to be installed, and needed electrical re-wiring of the (2) wall switches that would be used. His quote was what our retired contractor told us it should be. Our fans and new electrical are perfect. I plan on using him again for other projects that we have. We have already referred him to friends of ours. It's such a relief to find somebody who cares about your home, as much as you do.

Maria R.

Verified review

Scott is an amazing guy to have around our house. A contractor would have cost a lot of money, but Scott gives the same quality if not better. He has built us a fence, tiled our kitchen floor, painted the outside of our house & has replaced some windows. Scott is a wonderful guy/contractor to have around & has been with my husband & I for a year now.

Jose U.

Verified review

For my tax refunded I wanted to remodel my bathroom, I wanted a modern but yet elegant style found on modern homes.I had a few contractors come to my home for quotes and suggestions. The thing that set J&D apart was there attention to detail that is hard to find and it's family operated. Johnny offered different type of styles and material and explained the difference between the different materials. Sarah made choosing materials easy and fun by having different sample and pricing On hand for my wife and me to choose. At the end we decided to go with Italian wood floors and 16 jet Whirlpool bathtub and bathroom fixtures. Alex is a master of his craft. During construction alex paid attention to the smallest details like placing silicone around places so water wouldn't leak and having the flooring cut right to not leave any creases. the job was finished on time and 200 over budget because I added a few fixtures and the end. Currently Planinng to remodel my kitchen with J&D before the holidays. I would definitely recommend J&D to friends and family. You guys rock

Hadar A.

Verified review

Joe from statewide construction is the nicest, most reliable contractor I ever met. I know the words contractor and reliable don't mesh but with statewide the case is different. aside from amazing design ideas provided by Joe, who is also the owner of the company, The job was completed on time and on budget. Something you don't get to say in the world of construction. My first Home owner renovation experience was painless thanks to Joe and statewide. Very highly recommended!!!!

Sharon H.

Verified review

I would definitely recommend Sami and MHD for home renovation! I shopped for several companies and Sami provided the quote fastest with a very reasonable price. He is detail oriented, always responsive to calls and requests. He brought us to pro source stores to shop for material. Great quality with wholesale price. I did hard wood floor on my second and third level and the stairs for more than 2000 square feet. We used laminate. Sami did a fantastic work without using quarter round as transition per our request. It looked fabulous. Sami is definitely a trustworthy person and such a perfectionist with patience. We needed a project manager who is willing to spend time on our home while we can stay away and busy with our business. And Sami is definitely the one you can give your home to.

Ralph & Lisa G.

Verified review

Christian and his team were the most friendliest and nicest people to work with. LA Rocca builders along with J Balian Construction and Grandeur Construction these 3 teams that Christian put together is like the saying goes “it takes a village to raise a child” well it takes 3 teams to build a home, which is what happen with our home we had so many problems with other contractors and they couldn’t do what we wanted them to do. They remodeled our home inside and out. They build our dream-home: Interior and Exterior Paitnting with a room addition, entire new kitchen and bathroom like the hotels we stayed in, along with all the extras they gave use
Custom home furnishings, we are truly happy and blessed to have such great contractors that La rocca help us with.
Thank you very much Christian.
Ralph&Lisa Goldberg
Laguna Beach

Angelica J.

Verified review

We contracted Jeff and Rick after getting bids from 5 other companies. We mainly dealt with Jeff for the majority of the job. He is very professional and detail-oriented, which we appreciated. He sent us an estimate and we hired him soon after- but then he told us he made a mistake and needed to charge 15% more for labor costs. We negotiated what we thought was more reasonable and he agreed. After a few more weeks of delay, he told us that Rick underestimated another portion of the job and would have to charge more as well. By this point (5 weeks after officially telling them they were hired), we were anxious to get started so we again agreed to the change. They started a week later and were done in three weeks.
The good news is that we're very happy with their craftsmanship- everything looks exactly like we wanted it to. We were just disappointed with all the changes and delays. We will consider them for future jobs as their price for this project was very reasonable compared to other contractors.

Benjamin L.

Verified review

I was ready for some remodeling in my home. My kitchen needed an update and so did a few of the bathrooms. Searching google I found GIM and saw that they did energy efficient remodeling and upgrades. I contacted GIM and set an appointment for a consultant to come by to show me some options. The consultant showed us many samples of flooring, tile, roofing, painting, and multiple other products they offered. They even had their own architect to take care of the drawings for me and also had a 3d design for the kitchen. All the work was done properly and my home was left clean everyday. Appreciate all the hard work.

Kristine E.

Verified review

Mark Bench is a mom and pop construction I hired to do some improvements at our little home in Bixby Long Beach. I had some plumbing, some electrical, room renovation with new doors and windows and Garage improvements including Garage doors installed. I wish I can show pictures to show how happy I am with their work. These guys are professional and knows what they are doing. If you want fast and neatly done job, I recommend these guys.

Laura S.

Verified review

We are so glad we were referred to Wayne Simonian at Premier Contracting. Wayne was extremely knowledgable, experienced, and professional. My husband and I truly enjoyed working with him on our home renovation. His expertise and years of experience were apparent right off the bat. Renovations can be overwhelming, but we felt at ease and confident in him from the very beginning. He is affordable yet never lacking in quality, and his keen eye for design makes him stand out above others. Our home turned out better than we could’ve imagined. You won’t be disappointed.

Q & A

Answers to commonly asked questions from the experts on Thumbtack.

What is a general contractor?

When starting a home remodel or new construction project, you will probably hire a general contractor. A general contractor is a professional who is qualified to take a set of building plans and construct them as outlined. The general contractor may help perform the day-to-day building, or they may just hire workers and oversee all the work activities. In either case, the job of the general contractor is to see that your project gets built.

When you have a building project, ask for bids from various contractors. The bids tell you how much each will charge and what their scope of work will be. Once you have selected a bid, you sign a contract with that general contractor outlining the specifics of the project and the milestones during the project when they will receive payment installments. Once the contract is official, the general contractor will bring in their crew to begin construction. The contractor will manage the workers and subcontractors (anyone who doesn’t work directly for their company but that they need to outsource, like a marble installation pro), order all the materials, obtain work permits, and confirm that all the workers and subcontractors are completing their projects as planned. They typically handle all the payments to the workers and subcontractors, and send you invoice. For all these reasons, it’s also especially important to follow a few smart hiring practices when it comes to finding a general contractor. If you are organized and competent to oversee construction projects, and are able to make sure everything is being built properly and meeting code, it’s possible you can be your own general contractor.

How do you choose a commercial general contractor?

A commercial contractor provides similar services as a residential general contractor but specializes in working with large-scale projects for businesses, schools, nonprofits, governments and development firms. When researching commercial general contractors, review their portfolio of work and confirm they have ample experience working in the area you need. For example, if you are building a small strip mall, ask if the contractors have experience successfully incorporating all the needed elements such as a parking lot, meeting ADA requirements, accessing the proper permits, and completing work on time.

Once you’ve identified several qualified candidates, request bids for your project and then compare the scope of work with your needs and budget. Your commercial general contractor should oversee design, permitting, construction, materials purchase, and adherence to building code and zoning regulations, as well as sticking to an agreed-upon budget and schedule. It’s important to establish clear communication with your future commercial general contractor, as this will mean a smoother process for everyone. For all these reasons, it’s also especially important to follow a few smart hiring practices when it comes to finding a general contractor.

What do general contractors charge?

If you’re doing a home remodel, building a new home or embarking on a commercial building project, you’ll hire a general contractor. A general contractor is a professional who is qualified to oversee and execute construction projects. Each construction project is unique; even two duplicate homes built on lots next door to each other could have different construction costs due to factors like different excavation costs when building the foundation. Since each project is unique, many general contractors make bids on potential construction projects. These bids can then break down to a per square foot cost that encompasses the labor of all the workers needed for the job, materials, the scope of work, and any equipment needed. Materials and finishes make a major difference in your cost per square foot. For example, choosing standard kitchen tiles at $3 per square foot will result in a lower total project cost than imported marble tiles that cost $63 per square foot. Where you live will also affect how much general contractors charge, as labor and the cost to do business can cost less in many regions than in high-cost areas like New York or San Francisco. Here are some examples of average costs general contractors typically charge in various regions:

Home addition in San Francisco: $250-$270 per square foot.

New home construction in Knoxville, Tennessee: $100-$200 per square foot.